|
Medjugorje
Message: October 25, 2015 Dear children! Also today, my prayer is for all of you,
especially for all those who have become hard of heart to my call. You are
living in the days of grace and are not conscious of the gifts which God is
giving to you through my presence. Little children, decide also today for
holiness and take the example of the saints of this time and you will see
that holiness is a reality for all of you. Rejoice in the love, little
children, that in the eyes of God you are unrepeatable and irreplaceable,
because you are God’s joy in this world. Witness peace, prayer and love.
Thank you for having responded to my call. |
|
Published by the Marian Center of
San Antonio / A Catholic Evangelization Ministry Always in
tune with the liturgical
seasons of the Church which is the Body of Christ on earth, Our Lady’s message in this
month of All Saints makes reference to the saints and to our own holiness of life, as
well as to the gifts for which we should be giving thanks to
God (especially in this season of our national Thanksgiving). She begins by
saying, “My prayer is for all of you,
especially for all those who have become hard of heart to my call.” Indeed, this “hard-hearted” category may apply to all of us! Throughout sacred scripture, the
term “hardness of heart” is used to describe God’s people—even those who are “believers.”
(“Believing” is a function of the head, but fidelity and love—of the heart;
hence there are many hard-hearted
“believers.”) In Exodus,
when the Israelites wanted freedom from Egyptian bondage, “Pharaoh’s heart
was hardened against them,” and during forty years in the desert en route to the Promised Land with Moses, God’s own
“Chosen People” hardened their hearts against the Lord repeatedly, leading to the Psalmist’s plea: “If today you hear his voice, harden
not your hearts,
as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah
in the desert; they tested me though they had seen my works.” (Ps 95:8-9) Indeed, God’s great desire, according to the prophets, was to “replace their stony hearts with
hearts of flesh.” (Ez 11:19) Much later, when Jesus was confronted by the hard-hearted Pharisees
regarding marriage, he replied, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed
you to divorce.” (Mt 19:8) At the end
of every Medjugorje message, without fail, Our Lady
says, “Thank
you for having responded to my call.” What a
gracious, patient Mother she is! For, like the wandering Israelites in the
Law, the straying harlots in the Prophets and the cynical Pharisees in the
Gospels, many of us have “hardened our hearts” and become unresponsive.
When Our Lady thanks us, let’s ask: Have I responded to her call? She
continues: “You are living in the days of grace
and are not conscious of the gifts which God is giving to you through my
presence.” This statement sheds light
on our “hardness
of heart.” When hearts are hardened, we
take our lives for granted, oblivious and unacknowledging
of the many blessings we receive each day. Our glass is always “half-empty”
(or worse); like selfish, spoiled children, we dwell constantly upon what we
lack or want or desire, upon what is “wrong” or “missing” in our world. But
Our Lady reveals that in fact, “our cup runneth
over”! What
is lacking is consciousness. How many
of us wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night with a joyful heart, keenly aware that “we are living in the days
of grace”? Sadly, we mostly sleep-walk
through our days, “not conscious of the gifts that God
is giving” us….not least of which is the
extraordinary presence of Mary, whom Jesus gave to the human race from his cross on Calvary with
the words, “Behold
YOUR mother!” Our Lady’s reference to consciousness is significant, for it
points to the core element of conversion that “prayer of the heart” is meant to nurture: transformation of consciousness. In Medjugorje Our Lady addresses the fact
that both individually and as a whole
human species we are in dire need of a new step up in evolution, out of the primitive ooze and sludge of our egocentric state of
consciousness into the light
of peace and love that are the marks of a more evolved, selfless,
compassionate Christ-consciousness. Our Lady
says, “decide
also today for holiness and take the example of the saints of this time and
you will see that holiness is a reality for all of you.” Holiness is a
decision, Our Lady has often said; it
is seated in the will, along with love—something for which we “decide,” strive, and work with deliberate intention, rather than passively waiting for a “thunderbolt or lightning strike” from heaven. She asks us to “take
the example of the saints of this time”—who are they? They are both the canonized/ famous and the
hidden/little-known men and women who make up the “Church Militant” (still on earth), the “Church Suffering” (holy
souls not yet wholly purified), and the “Church Triumphant” (in heaven). Louis and Zelie Martin come to mind (the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux),
whom Pope Francis recently made the first married couple ever jointly
canonized. Along with them, we all know many other holy persons, both
living and dead, whose lives are exemplary models of Christ-consciousness and
active love that have made our world a better place. Many, like the Martins,
are simple lay people who lived ordinary family life with extraordinary love,
showing us, as Our Lady says, “that
holiness is a reality for all
of you.” It is not something reserved
for a spiritually elite few, tucked away in rarified atmospheres or religious
hothouses apart from the chaotic traffic and noise of everyday life in the
marketplace. We are ALL called to holiness, which is inevitably rooted in our conscious awareness of “living in
the days of grace.” Saints are never
self-referential but vigilantly alert to “give God the glory.” In
Philadelphia at the Meeting of Families, Pope Francis stressed that authentic
holiness is seen in the small, concrete actions of daily life. He said, “Like
happiness, holiness is always tied to little gestures. ‘Whoever gives
you a cup of water in my name will not go unrewarded.’ These little
gestures…are the quiet things done by mothers and grandmothers, by fathers
and grandfathers, by children, brothers and sisters. They are little signs
of tenderness, affection, and compassion. Like the warm supper we look
forward to at night…a blessing before we go to bed,
or a hug after we return from a hard day’s work. Love is shown by little
things, by attention to small daily signs which make us feel at home.” Our Lady’s
message ends with: “Rejoice in the love, little
children, that in the eyes of God you are unrepeatable and irreplaceable,
because you are God’s joy in this world. Witness peace, prayer and love.” Our God is no cookie-cutter chef: we are the “hand-mades” of the Lord! While the holiness of sainthood is a universal
call, unity is not uniformity. The unity of goodness/godliness is by no means manifested in a uniform or clone-like way. Rather there is infinite
diversity and multiplicity in the way God fashions human
beings—each one totally unique, “unrepeatable and irreplaceable” in his or her strengths, weaknesses, quirks and idiosyncrasies. A
brief survey of the lives of the saints reveals a rainbow of colorful
characters with plenty of human foibles and irritating traits that were
completely original. Still, Our Lady, the heavenly Mother of this huge array of children,
beckons ALL to “witness peace, prayer and love”—each in our own unique way, in accordance with our Creator’s
original thumbprint upon our being. Undaunted by the surrounding darkness, we
are “God’s joy
in this world”! November Musings . . . Month of Saints & Holy Souls, Death & Dying, and
Thanksgiving November
1—All Saints: How to Join the Ranks? In
reality, everything is extraordinary. Perhaps the secret can be found
in certain saints who died young and who came an incredibly long way in a
short time. Not a moment of their lives
was lost. Nothing that happened was in vain. They knew that at every
moment, in every event and circumstance—not the least in that which seemed to destroy their “spiritual life”—God gave them
a little push on the back, and they let themselves be pushed by Him. There
can be so much escapism in our striving for a “spiritual life.” We often flee
from the concrete, apparently banal reality that is filled with God’s
presence to an artificial existence that corresponds with our own ideas of
piety and holiness but where God is not present. As long as we
want to decide for ourselves where we will find God, we need not fear that we
shall meet him! We will meet only ourselves, a touched-up version of
ourselves. Genuine spirituality begins when we are prepared to die. Could
there be a quicker way to die than to let God form our lives from moment to
moment and continually to consent to his action? – Fr.
Wilfrid Stinissen, OCD + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ +
+ + + God’s
designs, the will of God, and his grace are all one and the same thing in
this life. They are God working in the soul to make it like
himself. Perfection is nothing else than the faithful cooperation
of the soul with the work of God, and it grows in our souls secretly and
without our being aware of it….When God’s designs and will are embraced
with simplicity by a faithful soul, they produce this divine state in it
without its knowing it. …As it is fire that warms us, so it is the will and designs of
God that produce sanctity in our souls and not intellectual speculation about
this principle. If we wish to quench our thirst, we must lay aside books which explain thirst, and take a drink. By
itself, curiosity for knowledge can only make one thirstier. Thus, when we
thirst for holiness, curiosity for theoretical knowledge of it can only drive
it further from us. We must put speculation on one side, and with
simplicity drink everything that God’s designs present to us in actions and
sufferings. What happens to us each moment by God’s design is for us the
holiest, best, and most divine thing. – Fr. Jean-Pierrre de Caussade, SJ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + + One must see God in everyone.
– St. Catherine Laboure’ He who does not see God in the next person he meets need
look no further. –
Mahatma Gandhi + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + + “Whoever puts his
hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Lk 9:62) BE what you’re actually doing at the
moment, without thinking or feeling about the fact that you’re doing it. Put
your whole mind into the
plowing in the moment you do it. Don’t allow the mind to divide into two—half
on plowing and half on “plowed.” Merge your whole mind into the objective
reality of what must be done to plow correctly. Put your whole will into the plowing. Do not
divide your will into two by consenting to plow, and partly resenting and
resisting it and wishing you were doing something else. Give yourself to this activity
totally, as you do it. The will
to plow and the act of plowing become the same thing. Do not allow your imagination to conjure up some
other scene for daydreaming while you plow. The imagination must also “be
here now.” Don’t divide your consciousness by creating a fantasy.
Know
who you are and where you are and what you are doing and really BE there.
Put all your feelings into
the plowing because this is where your life is at this moment. You have no
other life here and now except this plowing. Feel this plowing
thoroughly, in every way possible. Feel
it through your body with all your senses, with your emotions, with your
aesthetic sense, your sense of satisfaction with work. “Become” plowing. This is YOU at this moment. If you
practice this, you will “center” in the center of yourself. You will be in
your “inner chamber” and you will be aware that Life
is gushing up in you at that point; you are in immediate contact with your Source.
How intense, vibrant and full is this act of living! This no-doubting, keeping
the consciousness single. When this “eye” is single, the whole body
is filled with light. –
Beatrice Bruteau + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + As
long as we think that the rational mind can understand the universe and God,
we are precisely in a state of illusion. Every spiritual
tradition realizes we have to get beyond our rational mind and logical
thought and open up to a deeper level of consciousness. When we do that,
we get another perspective. As long as our God is a god of rational
consciousness, and we expect him to behave as he ought to behave, then we
have no place for God. Once we understand that God is the mystery in which we
are all involved –the mystery of existence—our reason can shed some light on
it. But far beyond the reason there is the intuitive instinct, an
intuitive power in the mind which is actually the power of love. – Fr. Bede Griffiths, OSB + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + To be
a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda or even in stirring
people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way
that one’s life would not make sense if God did not exist. – Cardinal Emmanuel C. Suhard The perfect
man employs his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing; it refuses nothing; it
receives, but does not keep. –
Chuang Tzu + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + Journeying toward Holiness in Our
Human Condition: The first half of life is about developing a strong ego.
The second half of life is about letting the ego go. Through
discipline, we become aware of the deeper, spiritual level of our being, and
of higher states of consciousness. And yet, paradoxically, we seem to end
where we started. As T.S. Eliot wrote in his famous poem, Little Gidding: “We
shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be
to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time,
through the unknown, remembered gate when the last of earth left to discover
is that which was the beginning…” Or,
as the Zen masters teach: “Before enlightenment—chop wood, carry
water. After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water.” It seems we
can’t stop seeking and yet in a mysterious sense we already are that which
we are seeking. It is ironic that you must go to the edge to find the center.
But that is what the prophets, hermits and mystics know. Only there were they
able to live in a way that was not grasping at the superficial or
protecting the surface of things, but falling into the core and center of
their own souls and experiences. A parable of this classic human journey
to holiness: A
poor man chopped loose kindling wood at the edge of the forest and made
enough money to live on.
He saw a hermit emerge from the forest and asked for his wisdom and counsel.
The hermit said only: “Go farther into the forest!” So
the man went farther in, and found large mature trees that he chopped down
and sold for a greater profit. Later he remembered the hermit’s words to “Go farther into the forest!” and
returned to the woods, going deeper in. There he found some precious rocks
and gemstones and, mining them, he made even more money and became quite
wealthy. Later he recalled the hermit’s words and so returned to the forest,
again going even farther in. He discovered a rich vein of gold and silver
that he mined, which made him into a millionaire. After some time passed in
this great wealth, he again recalled the hermit’s words and returned to the
forest. This time he went so far that he again found himself at the edge
of the trees, where he could gather some loose kindling wood. He sold it for
a small amount of money on which he again lived in great simplicity. (Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM) The
process of conversion begins with genuine openness to change….Our
relationship to ourselves, to Jesus Christ, to our neighbor, to the Church,
to God—all change. It is the end of the world we have previously
known and lived in. Sometimes the Spirit of God deliberately shatters
one of these worlds. If we have depended upon them to go to God, it may feel
as if we have lost God….It is not the true God of faith that we have doubts
about, but only the God of our limited concepts or dependencies; this god
never existed anyway. The struggle to attain the “land of vision” leads
inevitably to disappointment….It is like dying. The world as you know it must
be broken! And you with it! Your too-narrow idea of the spiritual journey, of
service to humanity, of the Church, of Jesus Christ; even your idea of God
must be shattered! It is the human
condition—all that causes us merely to reflect on the vision and
to cherish our own biases rather than to actually experience it. But….if
you repent and are willing to change, or to let God change you, in
fact the kingdom of God is within you and you can begin to enjoy it.
The kingdom of God belongs to those who are poor in spirit, who have let
go of their possessive attitude toward everything, including God. (Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO) + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + November: Days of the Dead . . . Contemplative
prayer, when it reaches full consent to
our nothingness, and when the closeness
of God becomes a permanent experience, is the perfect
preparation for death because it is death—death to the false
self in the Night of Sense and death to the ego in the Night of Spirit.
Even the True Self has been transcended. The dying person may advance into
these levels which are the full fruits of contemplative prayer.… It’s not
predictable, however, because it’s a unique experience. Some saints have died in an
ecstasy of love, and others, like Jesus, in an agony of torment. It depends
what mystery they are called to…to enable Christ to relive in them. So
Christ is dying in them—“precious in the eyes of God is the death
of his saints”—because they are manifesting in their particular
humanity, in the degree that God wants, and for his purposes, the actual
redeeming life of Christ that has been transmitted to them and which they
now, through their own sufferings, can transmit to others. Death, then,
is not the end of anything, but the final completion of this process and the
triumph of the grace of God. – Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+ +
+ + + The great
secret of death, and perhaps its deepest connection with us, is this:
that, in taking from us a being we have loved, death does not wound us
without—at the same time—lifting us toward a more perfect understanding of this
being and of ourselves. I am not saying that we should love death, but
rather that we should love life so generously, without picking and choosing, that
we automatically include death (life’s other half) in our love. This
is what actually happens in the great expansiveness of love, which cannot be
stopped or constricted. It is only because we exclude it that death
becomes more and more foreign to us and, ultimately, our enemy. It is
conceivable that death is infinitely closer to us than life itself. Our
effort can be dedicated to this: to assume the unity of Life and Death
and let it be progressively demonstrated to us. So long as we stand in
opposition to Death we will disfigure it. Believe me, Death is our friend, our
closest friend, perhaps the only friend who can never be misled by our ploys
and vacillations. Death is our friend precisely because it brings us into absolute
and passionate presence with all that is here, that is natural, that is love. Life always says Yes and No
simultaneously. Death is the true Yea-sayer. It stands before eternity and
says only: Yes. –
Rainer Maria Rilke
|
Mark Your Calendar!
|
November 1 |
ALL
SAINTS (Holy Day) |
|
2 |
ALL
SOULS |
|
3 |
Class: Contemplative Spirituality—The Practice of Living & Dying w/
Edwin Sasek; 3 Tuesdays, 7-9 pm; SoL Center, 300
Bushnell; $35; call (210) 732-9927 |
|
7 |
The
Assembly: Encountering Christ, United as Church, Sent by the Spirit—Clergy, Religious & Laity of
the Archdiocese of S.A. are invited & strongly encouraged to gather with
Archbishop Gustavo for a day of community as disciples of Jesus Christ; Mass
included! 7 am-10 pm, St. Mary’s Univ; free event; for more information call (210)
734-1653 |
|
10 |
Free Public Lecture: Story, Symbol and the Reign of God with
Fr. Ken Hannon, OMI; 7 pm, Oblate School of Theology Whitley Theological
Center, 285 Oblate Dr.; (210) 341-1366 x 212 |
|
12 |
Class: Meditation—Nourishing Ourselves & One Another in Community w/
Betsy Pond; 3 Thursdays, 7-9 pm; SoL Center, 300
Bushnell; $35; call (210) 732-9927 |
|
21 |
Presentation of the Blessed Virgin
Mary |
|
22 |
Christ the King |
|
26 |
Thanksgiving Day |
|
28 |
PEACE
MASS: 12 pm, St. Mary’s Church, 202 N. St. Mary’s |
|
29 |
First Sunday of Advent Rosary
Making: 2 pm-5:30 pm; St. Mary’s Church, 202 N. St. Mary’s, free parking
& materials |
|
30 |
St. Andrew |
|
To reject the contemplative
dimension of any religion is to reject the religion itself,
however loyal one may be to its externals and rituals. This is because the contemplative dimension
is the heart and soul of every religion. It initiates the movement into higher states of
consciousness. The great wisdom teachings of the Vedas, Upanishads, Buddhist
Sutras, Old and New Testaments, and the Koran bear witness to this truth.
Right now there are about two billion Christians on the planet. If a
significant portion of them were to embrace the contemplative dimension of
the gospel, the emerging global society would experience a powerful surge
toward enduring peace. If this contemplative dimension of the
Christian religion is not presented, the Gospel is not being adequately
preached. – Fr.
Thomas Keating, OCSO |
|
Copyright, Marian Center of San Antonio. All
rights reserved. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced without
permission. |